Efeito da aplicação de escória de siderurgia granulada em cana-soca junto com a adubação NPK.

FERTBIO 2010

Traffic noise: Annoyance assessment of real and virtual sounds based on close proximity measurements

The negative impact of noise on human health is well established and a high percentage of environmental noise is related with traffic sources. In this study, we compared annoyance judgments of real and virtual traffic sounds. Virtual sounds were generated through an auralization software with input from close proximity tyre/road noise measurements and real sounds were recorded through a Head and Torso Simulator. Both groups had sounds generated at two speeds and from three urban pavement surfaces (asphalt concrete, concrete blocks and granite cubes). Under controlled laboratory conditions, participants rated the annoyance of each real and virtual stimulus. It was found that virtual stimuli, based on close proximity tyre/road noise, can be used to assess traffic annoyance, in spite of systematic lower rates than those found for real stimuli. The effects of type of pavement and speed were the same for both conditions (real and virtualized stimulus). Opposed to granite cubes, asphalt concrete had lower annoyance rates for both test speeds and higher rate differences between real and virtual stimuli. Additionally, it was also found that annoyance is better described by Loudness than by LAmax. This evidence is stronger for the virtual stimuli condition than for the real stimuli one. Nevertheless, we should stress that it is possible to accurately predict real annoyance rates from virtual auralized sound samples through a simple transformation model. The methodology developed is clearly efficient and significantly simplifies field procedures, allowing the reduction of experimental costs, a better control of variables and an increment on the accuracy of annoyance ratings.This work was financed by FEDER grants through the Operational Competitiveness Program – COMPETE and ON.2 – Novo Norte (Programa Operacional Regional do Norte 2007/2013) integrated in the structural funds QREN and the project PEst-OE/ECI/UI4047/2014 supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gramática como rede: relações entre construções

Este trabalho tem como objetivo aplicar e discutir alguns conceitos postulados dentro do quadro teórico recente da Linguística Funcional Centrada no Uso (LFCU) a partir do estudo do caso das construções adverbiais com adjetivos, locuções adverbiais e advérbios em –mente, bem como refletir sobre algumas questões teórico-metodológicas que vêm emergindo a partir das análises dos dados. As construções adverbiais com adjetivos estão interligadas às locuções adverbiais e advérbios em –mente por um esquema mais geral e ora apresentam contrapartes entre si, ora não, o que parece demonstrarque cada uma destas construções atende a um (ou mais) diferente(s) propósito(s) na língua.</span

Copper adsorption as a function of solution parameters of variable charge soils

Effects of pH and ionic strength (I) on copper (Cu) adsorption and the driving force of the reaction in variable charge soils were evaluated from batch studies. Experimental results of Cu adsorption fitted Langmuir model. According to adsorption isotherms, Cu affinity (K L) was greater in the subsoil (0.061-0.468 L kg-1) than in the topsoil samples (0.169-0.359 L kg-1). Maximum adsorption (Ads max) ranged from 1114-2422 mg kg-1 (topsoil) to 1002-1334 mg kg-1 (subsoil). Strong dependence of Cu adsorption on the pH was observed in subsoil samples. Adsorption edges showed sharply increase of Cu adsorption (20-90%) in the 4.0-5.0 pH range. Copper adsorption changed with increase in I and indicated different metal retention mechanisms (outer- and inner-spheres). Adsorption reaction was favorable and spontaneous, as indicated by negative values of the free energy variation (&#916;G) and the separation factor K R < 1. Soil-solution interface and Cu adsorption were also thermodynamically described by a theoretical approach

Variations in salivary function in a rodent model of pre-diabetes

Diabetes is a widespread disease representing an enormous part of the total health costs. An early diagnostic could be of extremely importance both for the understanding and prevention of this pathology. Saliva is a fluid with increasing interest as a source of biomarkers for disease diagnostic and saliva protein composition changes have already been reported for diabetic individuals. However, the studies were performed after the onset of the disease and it is unknown if salivary changes are present in the early stages of development of the disease or a characteristic of overt diabetes. Wistar rats have been selected for their glucose intolerance (GIR). GIR females were compared with Wistar females with normal glucose tolerance (control) for changes in saliva protein composition and salivary gland histology. Fasting glycemias were observed to be normal (<95 mg/dl) in GIR animals, indicating an absence of a diabetic state. However they presented an abnormal increase in glycemia after a glucose bolus. For salivary parameters a marked increase in total protein concentration and alpha-amylase activity occurred in GIR animals, comparatively to controls. After separation of salivary proteins by SDS PAGE differences between the experimental groups for some protein bands, with apparent molecular masses ranging from 20 to 55 kDa were observed. Different expression of alphaamylase at salivary gland duct level is also apparent for pre-diabetic animals. Although preliminary, these results suggest changes in saliva occurring before the onset of diabetes, reinforcing the interest of further investigation of saliva composition for the diagnostic of pre-diabetic condition, ultimately allowing an early intervention and eventually the prevention of disease development

Collagen membrane from bovine pericardium for treatment of long bone defect

The treatment of bone regeneration failures has been constantly improved with the study of new biomaterials. Techgraft® is a collagen membrane derived from bovine pericardium, which has been shown to have biocompatibility and effectiveness in tissue repair. However, its use in orthopedics has not yet been evaluated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to characterize a bovine pericardium collagen membrane and evaluate the effects of its use in the regeneration of a bone defect in rat tibia. Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, weight lost and water uptake tests, and mechanical test were performed. Afterwards, the membrane was tested in an experimental study, using 12 male Sprague Dawley rats. A bone defect was surgically made in tibiae of animals, which were assigned to two groups (n = 6): bone defect treated with collagen membrane (TG) and bone defect without treatment (CONT). Then, tibiae were submitted to micro-CT. The membranes preserved their natural collagen characteristics, presenting great strength, high water absorption, hydrophilicity, and almost complete dissolution in 30 days. In the experimental study, the membrane enhanced the growth of bone tissue in contact with its surface. A higher bone volume and trabeculae number and less trabecular space was observed in bone defects of the membrane group compared to the control group at 21 days. In conclusion, the Techgraft membrane seems to have favorable characteristics for treatment of long bone repair.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the São Paulo Research Foundation (reference 2017/20051-0) and the scholarship from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel

An MCDM approach to the selection of novel technologies for innovative in-vehicle information systems

Driving a car is a complex skill that includes interacting with multiple systems inside the vehicle. Today’s challenge in the automotive industry is to produce innovative In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) that are pleasant to use and satisfy the costumers’ needs while, simultaneously, maintaining the delicate balance of primary task vs. secondary tasks while driving. The authors report a MCDM approach for rank ordering a large heterogeneous set of human-machine interaction technologies; the final set consisted of hundred and one candidates. They measured candidate technologies on eight qualitative criteria that were defined by domain experts, using a group decision-making approach. The main objective was ordering alternatives by their decision score, not the selection of one or a small set of them. The authors’ approach assisted decision makers in exploring the characteristics of the most promising technologies and they focused on analyzing the technologies in the top quartile, as measured by their MCDM model. Further, a clustering analysis of the top quartile revealed the presence of important criteria trade-offs.Operational Competitiveness Program – COMPETE, QREN (Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional), European Regional Development Funds (European Union), R&D project in joint-promotion (HMIEXCEL-2013-2015 36265/2013) HMIEXCEL - I&D crítica em torno do ciclo de desenvolvimento e produção de soluções multimédia avançadas para automóvelStrategic program FCT-UID/EEA/00066/2013Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (IF/00217/2013)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PD/BD/105966/2014